The Elevator
by S.J. Baker
Summary: An elevator is the worst place to be when your past finally catches up with you.
1. Chapter 1

**I have no idea where this story idea came from only that I've been meaning to write it for a long time now. Seeing as how I'm improving on my writing, I'm gonna get serious with this one so look out! This is rated M. I have warned you. I own nothing enjoy! **

**REVIEW! **

The early morning light seeped in through the hotel room's thick and opaque curtains just enough to wake the blonde woman who was sprawled out on the king-sized bed. Her head rose just enough to see that it was daylight and slumped back down into the mass of pillows. She was completely aware that she needed to get things done that day; she had a reunion to attend that evening. Not that she was planning on impressing her old high school class mates, but it wouldn't hurt to show up with groomed fingertips and waxed eyebrows to at least look like she'd accomplished something in life. She pulled her head out of the mound of pillows again, this time dragging herself out from under the covers of the knotted up sheets and blankets. She readjusted her pajamas, what she considered pajamas; lacy panties and a skimpy tank top, and headed toward the hotel bathroom.

Rima had already raised the white flag before she saw her tangled blonde locks in the mirror, she knew that it was just better to wash it anyway. She stripped naked and hopped in the shower, letting the steamy hot water melt away her morning crankiness. Whatever hotel she'd picked, it had been a great one. _What was the name of it again? Hirton, Himpton, Hilton? _Her mind couldn't create enough consciousness to pick a name, she was too distracted by the shower that was currently jetting hot water on her back, all she knew was that it was fancy and cost a pretty penny. A pretty penny that she didn't have. With the help of parent's credit card, the room was paid in full, and the manicure, and the waxing, and the supply of food which consisted mostly of fast food cheese burgers. She wasn't the richest person in the world, and not the most successful either.

Admitting that she wasn't successful was something that she refused to do, she was stubborn like that. She'd had dozens of jobs; grocery bagging, valet parking, restaurant table waiting, the list went on and on, but she never found her calling. She had dabbled in comedy but ended up a failure and an embarrassment, she assumed that comedy was her future, her destiny; she'd loved it so much as a child that making people laugh came naturally. Her "Bala-Balance" knocked them dead every time. But it didn't last. She lost the title of "class clown" in her third year of high school because her comedy was too "childish" and was told by peers that it needed to mature. After that, she just stopped. Occasionally cracking a joke was the most comedy anyone was ever going to get out of her. She was still patiently waiting for her calling to find her. She thought going to the reunion and listening to her past class mates stories of success would inspire her.

The mirror of the bathroom was fogged up when she stepped out of the shower, a paddle brush awaiting her on the counter. She carelessly wrapped a towel around her lithe figure, tying it tight to make sure that it wouldn't fall off. Taking a deep breath, she moved on to her hair, picking up the brush and shutting her eyes tightly, awaiting the pain that usually came with brushing her hair. Soon after the brushing came the hair-drying, not the worst part but it took an incredibly long time. It was another hour before she exited the bathroom, the towel now beginning to droop. The towel dropped, leaving Rima stark naked. She could care less, the curtains were shut and a "Do not disturb" sign was hanging on the doorknob of her room.

A purple and gray striped sweater with dark blue skinny jeans topped with a beige pea coat and white scarf made up her apparel for that day. Slipping on her gray fur-lined boots, she slipped out the door of hotel room 1309, took a confident puff of air and pressed on to the salon.

The hallway and the elevator were full of familiar faces, faces she felt like she knew but couldn't exactly remember the names of all of them.

Except one.

Just as she was walking through the lobby, headed for the door. A shade of extravagant indigo-purple locks caught her eye. She stopped abruptly, she hadn't seen that hair since high school.

"Rima?" She hadn't heard that voice either. She was tempted to turn around, but no. She wouldn't give into him again. Never again.

**Hope you liked the first chapter of "The Elevator" Please review! (If you see any missing d's or t's, it's because those buttons don't work all that great on the other laptop.) Now review.**

**I like reviews :)**


	2. Chapter 2

When Rima arrived at the salon, she put the thought of that _scum _out of her mind so she could enjoy her time there. She sat in one of the lumpy wicker chairs that was at the front of the salon and flipped through a magazine to make it look like she was actually doing something. Truth be told, she was paying no attention to the scandalous photos and intense interviews that were in the magazine, she was busy rummaging through her thoughts. One particular thought kept showing up; high school prom. She shook her head in fury, trying to rid of it. It eventually slipped away somehow, but the thought of thinking of it kept coming back. _No! _She thought firmly, she was _not _going to let that plague of a memory take over her and cause her to give in. She was flipping the magazine more ferociously now.

"Rima?"

Rima looked up to see a short and skinny old woman who was wearing what looked like a lab coat.

"If you'll follow me please," the woman said in a heavy accent that she barely understood, but she put the magazine down and followed her. Rima dodged other women in lab coats and did her best to avoid from knocking anything over (needless to say the salon was small) while trailing behind the shriveled old lady. The woman finally led her to a big pleather massage chair with a mini Jacuzzi at the bottom just for her feet. Rima smiled as she climbed the pleather chair and slumped down, she couldn't remember the last time she'd gotten a pedicure.

As the woman worked on her feet, applying all sorts of oils and lotion to them, along with a peach colored polish, Rima reminisced old memories of high school. All kinds of things popped up; like spirit week and how Amu dressed her up as SeeU for cosplay day or field day when she successfully completed a game of volleyball. She recalled just about everything that occurred in high school except for her third year, she didn't want to remember any of it. She just let it slip down the drain like the water in the foot-sized hot tub.

After her toes were dry, the women led her to a table where she commenced working on her fingernails. While she dug away the invisible dirt under her fingernails, Rima was making a game plan. She thought of every believable excuse in the book; veterinarian, lawyer, doctor, even a teacher. She went with veterinarian because a lawyer, doctor and a teacher were impossible feats for her.

She had her job: Veterinarian. Now she needed a story.

After letting her mind think for a little while she came up with it; she had saved a baby squirrel from certain death and right then she knew; she had to be a vet. Rima smiled a little on the inside, even she was convinced.

The woman finished at just the right time, along with her peach blossom decorated nails, Rima had enough confidence to go punch out just about anyone. Rima paid the bill, a bit pricey but totally worth it, then walked out of the salon practically a new person.

She headed back to the hotel straight away to begin on her hair.

Easier said than done.

The shower was on and ready to be used by the time Rima had put a foot inside the door. She had no guilty conscience about taking two showers in a day, the hotel had as much hot water as she needed, besides she smelled like nail polish.

About half an hour later, Rima emerged from the shower, her skin still red from the scalding hot water. After a hefty amount of lotion was applied, she took a breath and prepared to work on her mane. Of course she would need materials to do so; a hairbrush, a hair dryer and lots of mousse.

Through the entire thing, she gritted her teeth, doing her hair was a pain in the ass to begin with but it was an even bigger pain in the ass to make it look pretty. Pretty implied that it _had _to be blow dried _and _it had to have a whole lot of mousse in it.

Finally satisfied with her look, Rima put down her hair equipment and took a good long look in the mirror. Her bangs were fluffy and floated right above her eyes; the rest of her usually curly mane cascaded down in waves and ended in cotton candy-like wisps. She nodded shortly; this was enough to impress. Strutting out of the bathroom with even more confidence, Rima sought out the time; 4:08, she had about half an hour to get dressed.

She hoped her attire wasn't _too _formal; everyone had to use their little black dress once in their life.

**I am ending chapter two here. It is short, but I'm going to update next Friday too, I'm starting to like this one a lot. **


	3. Chapter 3

**It's been a while ain't it? Hehe… sorry about the 'next Friday update' promise. **

Nagihiko could barely comprehend what had just happened several seconds before. He saw a flash of the all too familiar golden blond hair and he uttered her name. Her name bounced around in his head like a rubber ball. _Rima, Rima, Rima, Rima. _It echoed, sounding like the seductive singing of a muse in his head, drowning his thoughts with a delectable song. It had been such a long time since he uttered the angel's name. He didn't deserve to though. The melody drifted away, leaving him with bitter thoughts.

The moment Nagihiko snapped out of his pleasant thought's, he was greeted by the backside of Rima, sashaying away from him with attitude in every step. His eyes were locked onto her until he could no longer see her out the double doors of the hotel.

_Zzzzzzzzzzt. _

His phone vibrated. It was Kukai; asking where he was and that Utau was getting impatient.

"I better get going," he muttered then continued on the double doors, the same where the angel had just walked through.

There wasn't much effort in walking several blocks to the ramen shop and it only took Nagihiko a matter of minutes to reach his destination.

"Where on Earth have you been?" Utau scolded Nagihiko for being several milliseconds late.

"Sorry, I was back at the hotel. I… uh… got caught up with something." He scratched the back of his head, acting for all the world that the 'something he got caught up with' could've been having trouble with putting his pants on.

Kukai just shrugged at his excuse then gave his order to the man behind the counter followed by Nagihiko's order.

"So how've things been? How's Ayaka?" The violet-haired male began the conversation.

"Aya's just fine; I hope. Utau wanted to take her with but I suggested it would be a bad influence on her to be around so many adults, so she's at home with our sitter." Kukai said, occasionally receiving angry looks from Utau. "How are thing's going with you?"

"I'm fine, great actually." He started with optimistic tone. "I've done about twenty concerts in the last month in a total of ten countries. I also just published my first album. Not to toot my own horn, but life looks like smooth sailing from here." He smiled at the thought of life being easy, no worries at all.

"You should settle down then," Kukai's suggestion was just enough to make him shit a brick.

_Settle down? _He had forgotten about relationships, he was so caught up in his career that he didn't have times for relationships. Other than the blind dates his friends would set him up on, he didn't have a girlfriend; he barely had a friend who was a girl. "You think so?" the advice from his best friend was the best on the planet.

"Definitely yes. The reunion's tonight, you should talk up some people there. I'll even be your wingman." Kukai drove a hard bargain.

"Yeah, maybe you're right." Nagihiko agreed with a smile on his face to assure his friend.

* * *

4:28 PM

Rima examined herself in the mirror one last time, not to be narcissistic, but to make sure everything was flawless. She did look pretty though. Her hair fell down her back in feathered curls and her nude makeup was just enough to make her caramel eyes look like liquid gold. She thought she was a bit overdressed for a reunion but who cared. She wasn't exactly one to follow rules when it came to attire. The little black dress that clung to her connected at the back of her neck and was adorned with a satin peach colored bow around her waist. It was cute but that's not why Rima liked the dress. It was tight, but not tight enough to choke her; it was, however, tight enough to hug her in all the right places.

After taking one last look in the mirror, she slipped her feet into a pair of jet black peep-toe pumps then strutted out the door

4: 34 PM

Nagihiko had just finished buttoning the last button on his collared shirt when he realized that it was time to leave for the reunion. He took a quick glance in the mirror and shrugged, he didn't look too bad. His white collared shirt was casually tucked into his dark blue jeans and his hair trailed down his back in its usual fashion. He shrugged once more and headed out the door of his room.

4: 37 PM

"Come on!" Rima huffed and began tapping her foot in front of the elevator impatiently. A half a minute later the elevator light dinged and Rima bolted inside followed by her frantically pressing the lobby button and the 'close doors' button.

Instead of going down like she'd wanted, the elevator droned upward causing Rima to throw her head back and yell. "Ugh!" she groaned. She rolled her eyes at the imbecilic machinery and pulled out her phone to pass the time, completely ignoring who stood before the elevator when the doors slid open.

4: 39 PM

Patient as ever, Nagihiko stood before the elevator without a care. He began to ponder who he would encounter at his reunion. Amu of course, he couldn't wait to see her and all the things she'd accomplished. Kukai of course and Tadase. He smiled at a reunion of all of his friends. But Rima had slipped his mind momentarily then slipping back in just as the elevator doors rolled open.

"Oh God," Nagihiko involuntarily moaned when he saw the figure in the elevator. He'd seen Rima in just about anything, but _this_. He'd never seen her in something so… tight... or short.

Her eyes shot up and her expression went from blank to furious.

4:40 PM

"You have got to _fucking _kidding me!" Rima yelled loud enough for everyone on the twentieth floor to hear her. "Of all the people to be an elevator with, it had to be _you_!" she said 'you' as if Nagihiko was a piece of gum stuck to the bottom of her shoe. "I'm taking the stairs," she muttered and headed for the doors, but it was just her luck that they closed before she could get off.

"S-sorry," Nagihiko only said sorry because he didn't want to get strangled by the small girl.

Rima said nothing, she just leaned against the railing that lined the elevator end gave him the most menacing look she could muster up. Before her look could pierce through the back of his head, the elevator lurched and the florescent lights flickered. The metal box tilted once more and stopped suddenly causing Rima to land flat on her ass.

"Uh…" She heard Nagihiko speak in the darkness. "I think we're stuck."

"No shit Sherlock," Rima spat back, slapping her forehead in the blackness.

**How was that? Good… bad? SOMEONE TELL ME! I need… and I mean I NEED reviews! **

**Please… **


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